Meet Shelly Horman | Massage therapist & energy worker

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shelly Horman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shelly, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I started my career working for others as most massage therapists do. I have always been the kind of person to give my all at work and I quickly burned myself out. I was getting paid less than $20/hr while my clients were paying more than 4 times that for a session with me. When I got divorced, I ended up having to get a second and third job in order to make ends meet and support myself and my three kids. After years of working to make other people much more money than it was making me while wearing out my body, I decided that it was time to focus on building my own business. I would never have a chance to get ahead if I kept working hard for other people instead of trying to build my own practice. So I signed a lease February 2020 and started putting time and effort into my own business. Covid threw a wrench in the plan, but I wasn’t willing to give up. Growth was slow, but I was determined.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have always been a helper. I want to be useful and help people avoid the difficulties that I have experienced. When I serendipitously became aware of BCMT and took a weekend intro to Swedish massage class, I knew I’d found something that I could be passionate about. I have focused my career on pain relief and energy work for healing. It hasn’t always been easy to pursue this work, but it has been an amazing journey. I had to balance being a single mom with working up to three jobs and that was a struggle at times. But my vision never changed. I saved money and took classes to continue learning different techniques and skills like CranioSacral Therapy through the Upledger Institute, and reiki. I juggled my parenting time schedule or have my parents come watch my kids so that I could take classes and sometimes make payment plans to make it possible. But through the struggle I found my passion and honed my skills. I used to do a lot of injury and auto accident recovery work using deep tissue massage, but noticed that deep tissue work was as hard on my clients bodies as it was on mine. I have shifted my focus to modalities and techniques that are more gentle and soothing to the nervous system. I have learned to combine CranioSacral Therapy with massage for assisting people with TMJ dysfunction and pain, in addition to SomatoEmotional Release to help release trauma energy from the body. I studied and started practicing reiki to add another layer of energetic healing to my practice as well. I have crafted my approach to calm a client’s nervous system and intuitively combine the many techniques that I’ve learned in order to facilitate the body to release stress and tension rather than trying to force it through strong pressure.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting, I would take her on a few day trips around Colorado. I’d start with lunch at El Jardin Mexican restaurant, then spend the afternoon at Denver Museum of Nature and Science and walk around City Park. My favorite view of Denver and the mountains is from the roof at DMNS. I would take her to an Avalanche game to end the day. Another day, I’d take her down to Manitou Springs to spend the day shopping and then drive to the top of Pike’s Peak. A third day trip would have to start with a drive up to Nederland to go to Nature’s Own crystal shop and the Train Cars Coffee shop, then a drive down Boulder Canyon to have lunch at The Buff. I’d take her for a drive from Boulder down 93 to Golden and then out 285 to FairPlay for some of my favorite scenery. Then we’d drive up to Breckenridge and then home on US-6 over Loveland Pass and have dinner at Tandoori Kitchen in Lafayette.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t be where I am without the amazing teachers at Boulder College of Massage Therapy; some wonderfully supportive bosses who have encouraged and believed in me, like Jill Bumgardner, Jezelle Christiansen, and Amy Lynn; and my friends and family who have been supportive since I graduated. I have surrounded myself with people who would remind me of my goals and talents when I had difficulty remembering them.

Website: https://Www.leafonthewindhealing.com